Review: “Beautifully Broken Redemption” by Catherine Cowles

Series: Sutter Lake, #5

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Steam: 🔥🔥🔥

Release Date: November 9th, 2021

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CW/TW: Mentions of drugs, physical abuse, parental neglect, death

She’s hiding secrets.

For Anna, keeping her deepest scars hidden from the world has always been a necessity—from the bruises of her childhood to the mistake that nearly cost her everything. To keep herself safe, she must keep everyone around her at a distance—especially the man who has tempted her since the moment they met.

His demons are taunting him.

Mason has done his best to bury the past by achieving more than he ever thought possible. But even with all of his success, his life feels empty.

When tragedy strikes, Anna is left fighting to protect the only family she has left. And Mason will do anything to keep her and her loved ones safe—even if that means the ring of wedding bells.

But as a new spark ignites between them, someone is watching.

And they’ll do whatever it takes to snuff out that light for good.

 

The one thing I know I’m always going to get when I read a Catherine Cowles book is a great suspense storyline and she did not disappoint! Anna and Mason have tragic backstories that connect them through the book, but also strengthens their relationship a lot. And I didn’t expect to be wrung so dry of my feelings and emotions as I read this book. It totally caught me off guard, but I appreciated the journey it took me on through these characters.

Beautifully Broken Redemption is truly a story of redemption and I enjoyed seeing how these two broken characters could crawl back from all of the damage that’s been done in their lives. Between bruises and struggles, Anna found a way to climb back up and take control of her life, while Mason had to step up and protect his sister from the ugliness in the world. To tell you about their pasts would be to be spoil the story, just know that both of them have been through so much that you feel their pain when they talk about it to each other.

I absolutely loved Anna and Mason and their little ‘marriage of convenience’ plan. I also loved watching Anna with her late sister’s kids, because that’s when you really get to see just how good a person is. Anna and Mason’s relationship is complicated, because it starts with them faking it till they make it, and turns into something so much more. I wasn’t completely sold on their romance, though. I know it’s a forced proximity, only one bed kind of situation, but it felt so rushed to me. I loved the scenes where Anna, Mason and the kids are hanging out – because they felt so real and wonderful. And to see these two bond over the kids and the mission they’re on just amplified that family dynamic.

So, while the romance didn’t work for me entirely, I enjoyed the suspense part immensely. Between fighting for custody and protecting each other, Anna and Mason go through so much to make sense of it all. There isn’t just one villain in this story, there are so many and I felt like I was also looking over Anna and Mason’s shoulders throughout the course of the book to make sure that nothing bad happened to them. Catherine keeps you on the edge of your seat through the whole book and it’s so intense because you think you’ve solved the case and everything is tightly shut, but then something else pops out and it catches you off guard.

Anna and Mason are also such great characters and while I haven’t read all the books in the series yet, I’m looking forward to it! I loved the found family that the two leads are part of, I loved the dynamics and the relationships that are formed on every page. And I really liked that the kids in the book weren’t little kids, but slightly older and able to converse and be part of the story in a much deeper way. Because their existence is really what drives this story and the suspense.

Thanks to Catherine Cowles & Social Butterfly PR for generously providing me with an advance copy. I am voluntarily leaving an honest review.